- Saeid Mollaei won a silver medal in judo at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.
- Mollaei, who is originally from Iran but is representing Mongolia, dedicated the medal to Israel.
- Mollaei left Iran two years ago after he was told to lose on purpose to avoid an Israeli opponent.
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Saeid Mollaei won silver at the 81kg judo Olympic final in Tokyo on Tuesday, then used his victory to honor the enemy of his home country.
Mollaei, who is originally from Iran but is competing for Mongolia at the Tokyo Olympics, dedicated his silver medal to Israel. Iran and Israel have been in a proxy conflict since 1985.
"Thank you to Israel for all the good energy," Mollaei said according to The Jerusalem Post. "This medal is dedicated to you as well and I hope Israel is happy with this victory, todah (which translates to 'thank offering' in Hebrew)."
Mollaei's abandonment of Iran stems from an incident at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo.
There, Mollaei represented Iran and advanced to the semi-final of the tournament. He was looking to defend his championship after winning gold at the previous year's event in Azerbaijan. But Iranian authorities ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose the semifinal match to ensure he wouldn't have to face Israeli champion Sagi Muki in the final.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) called Iran's tampering "a serious breach and gross violation of the statutes of the IJF, its legitimate interests, its principles and objectives, " and suspended the country from the event for four years.
Meanwhile, after Mollaei exposed what the Iranian authorities forced him to do, he fled the country and went into hiding. He found asylum in Germany in August 2019 on a two-year visa, but then became a citizen of Mongolia in December 2019.
Mollaei and Muki went on to develop a friendship after the 2019 incident in Tokyo, as they each spent the next two years preparing for the Olympics, cheering eachother on at various international competitions.
Muki lost in the quarterfinal of the Olympic tournament earlier on Tuesday, but was happy to see Mollaei win silver.
"I'm super happy for Saeid," Muki said after Mollaei's victory on Tuesday, according to The Times of Israel. "I know what he's gone through, and how much he wanted it. He's a very close friend of mine, and I'm so happy that he succeeded in achieving his dream. He deserves it - his journey is incredibly inspiring."
When Mollaei competed at the Grand Slam international judo competition in the Israel city of Tel Aviv back in February of this year, he lauded the hospitality that the Israeli people showed him during his visit.
"[Israel] has been very good to me since I arrived," Mollaei said. "[The Israeli judo team members have been very kind. That is something I will never forget."
Mollaei and Muki's friendship is even being adapted into a scripted television series, after selling the rights of their story to MGM/UA Television and Israel's Tadmor Entertainment back in March 2021.